I'm Bengali, He's Khatri. This Is Our Love Story...

“It is always said that pairs are made in heaven, and somehow I started believing in it after meeting my husband Ankur. He runs an online marketing company, and that’s how I met him. I went to visit his office with my best friend for an internship. On the day of the interview, Ankur was not available at the office, so his partner interviewed me and asked me to wait for Ankur’s response. Days and then weeks passed after the interview, and no reply came from their side. After a period of time, I decided to approach him on Facebook so that I could at least get a response! Well, the response was positive and I started working as a content writer for Ankur’s company. Soon after, though, I left the job because I got selected for the role of a copy editor with a magazine.

Also read: She Was Older, Bolder And Totally In Love…“In the course of the month I worked at Ankur’s company, I saw many different shades of him - from kharoos to cool! Our proper ice-breaking meeting was at a New Year’s party in 2012. When I discovered a whole new Ankur - apart from being kharoos or cool, he was a person who was simply full of life! At the time of my leaving the job, he called me and asked me about my future plans. It was just a casual talk. But then we started chatting over Gtalk, on the phone and on Facebook. After a certain point of time, I still don’t know how he and me started gelling really well together. On 13th February, he proposed to me on Skype - at 3.30 a.m.! “I had always dreamt of being proposed to with a ring hidden in the bottom of a champagne glass...but when it came to my real life love story, I forgot every silly dream - I was driven by his words.“Some may consider that to be in a relationship with a guy who was well known for being the flirtatious kind was risky, but I saw the real Ankur. A bit kharoos, a bit sadu, but a very honest and practical person. Indeed, I did not want a lovey-dovey boyfriend who calls me “baby”! I am allergic to cheesy lines. I wanted a person on whose shoulder I can rest my head during low days.

“After a committed relationship for a year, when the time came for us to get married, that's when the main anxiety started. He and I are the only kids of our families. In my family, nobody had ever done a love marriage before, and that too an inter-caste one. So when people heard about our relationship, there was quite a bit of drama. I am Bengali and he is Khatri, and the two communities are almost totally opposite in their lifestyles. We are non-vegetarians and they are vegetarians. I never wanted to leave my job and in his family women are not supposed to work after marriage.Also read: She Was Christian, He Was Jain. This Is Their Love Story…“But somehow, I was lucky enough to get understanding in-laws, who supported my decision to work after marriage, despite it being a departure from the family traditions. On 25th May, we got engaged in a lavish ceremony. My father-in-law is very social, so seeing the big crowd present at the engagement I was a bit nervous. But anyhow, I took comfort in the satisfaction of being tied to the person I love. “From our engagement to the wedding, though, our relationship was the victim of interference from other members from our own extended families, who came up with wrong ideas about each other’s culture. Every time an issue was raised or our relatives got into conflict with each other, I would become terrified and tense about my future with Ankur. But my husband-to-be held my hand and always consoled and comforted me and told me that things would be all right. And I decided to believe him.

“It is a testament to our trust and commitment to each other that we tied the knot on 24th January 2015.“I feel that despite all the negativity we faced before our marriage, we love each other unconditionally - and that is because our togetherness was a decision of God.”As told by Shreyasee Chowdhury Kakkar. Images too have been provided by her.